Sunday, May 31, 2009

Corked: Wine biz insider mockumentary opens in L.A.

"Corked" first appeared on my radar because a high school buddy, Jeff Weissman, who stars in the comedy mockumentary, has been tireless in promoting the project on his Facebook page.Now some more buzz is building for this labor-of-love project, made in Sonoma County and directed by Ross Clendenen and Paul Hawley, son of Clos du Bois/Kendall-Jackson winemaker John Hawley. Weissman plays a winemaker based on Hawley in the pic, which takes on the sometimes-pretentious wine biz in the same way "Best in Show" took on dogshows.Corked opens at L.A.'s Downtown Independent cinema (formerly the Imaginasian Center) on Friday, June 5 and will play for a week with wine tastings every evening, natch.Here's what the Hollywood Reporter had to say:

Drier and frothier than recent mockumentaries made by recognized Hollywood comics, "Corked!" is a pithy delight. It's a brilliant lampoon of winemaking and will go well with either Milk Duds or organic popcorn. - Duane Byrge